Islands
by Courier999
Summary: AU. Jack Wilks is sent to rescue the heiress Eleanor Lamb from a cult. Based on original proposal for BioShock in 2001. R&R!
1. Chapter 1

BIOSHOCK- Islands

_Bioshock_ is property of Take-Two Interactive. This is based on the original concept for the game as pitched in 2001.

NEW YORK:

Jack Wilks entered his office. Working for Ryan Investigatory Services was often dull. All this was about to change. The intercom blared.

_"Mr. Wilks, Mr. Ryan wishes to see you in his office._" The secretary announced.

Jack dragged himself to his boss's office. This had better be important…

10 minutes later, Jack entered the office. His employer, one Andrew Ryan, turned to face his best P.I.

"Mr. Ryan, you wished to see me?" Jack asked.

"Yes, Jack. We've received a commission from a very important client." Andrew Ryan answered.

A woman of Anglo-Nordic descent soon entered the office. Her blond hair was done in a very conservative style.

"Sofia Lamb." The woman introduced herself.

"Andrew Ryan." Andrew Ryan replied, shaking the woman's hand.

"Jack Wilks." Jack butted in.

The client took a seat.

"I've come here because of my daughter, Eleanor. She went missing about 4 months ago. Last week, I received a letter from her. She's…living in sin on some island in the Pacific." Sofia Lamb announced.

"Elaborate on 'living in sin'." Andrew Ryan prompted.

"Boss, she means her daughter's sleeping with another woman." Jack curtly replied.

"How did you know?" Sofia Lamb asked.

"I grew up in Brooklyn. I know euphemisms when I hear them. I'll also wager that Ms. Lamb here thinks that her daughter joined a cult." Jack answered.

"What do you want us to do, Miss Lamb?" Andrew Ryan asked.

"I want you to bring back my daughter. I want her restored to the way she was." Sofia Lamb demanded.

"Mr. Wilks here is our 'deprogrammer'. He'll fix your daughter right up." Andrew Ryan boasted.

"So…you'll help?" Sofia Lamb desperately asked.

"Cross my heart, hope to die." Jack replied.

THREE DAYS LATER-

Jack was on a plane bound for Guam to begin his hunt for Eleanor Lamb. Just another routine case for him. He opened a letter he had received when his flight landed in Honolulu. All of a sudden, the world went dark…

Jack found himself on an island beach. He turned around. The wreckage of his flight lay strewn across the island's coastline. Just then, he heard a gunshot. Jack bolted like a man pursued by a hellhound. As he ran, he tripped and fell. Suddenly, a man in robes with a .45 caliber pistol stood over him. Jack closed his eyes, waiting for the fatal shot-

There was another gunshot, and the man fell dead as a doornail. Jack threw the body off him, and saw a man with a sniper rifle standing some distance away. Jack knelt down and prayed.

Later, Jack dragged himself back to the beach. He found his suitcase and opened it, removing his deprogrammer kit, a .44 magnum revolver and rounds, a Browning Hi-Power and rounds, his PDA, and a change in clothes. Just then, he stumbled upon a shortwave radio.

"Hello?" Jack asked into the radio.

"_How'd you survive that plane crash?_" An Irish voice asked over the radio.

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"_I'm Atlas, and I intend to keep you alive. Now, who the hell are you?_" The voice replied.

"Jack Wilks." Jack answered.

_"Jack Wilks, eh? Glad to meet you. Would you kindly get moving?_" Atlas replied.

Jack complied with the order and began to walk into the jungle.

Some time later, Jack found what appeared to be an old airstrip. He entered the control tower and walked into a mysterious elevator. He pulled a lever, and the elevator descended. Just then, the radio buzzed.

"_Jack, where in Heaven's name are you now?_" Atlas asked.

"I'm in some sort of elevator car in an abandoned control tower at a derelict airfield." Jack answered.

"_You're going into the lion's den now, boyo._" Atlas warned.

Just then, a short film began to play.

_I am Carlos Cuello, and I ask you a question- is a man not entitled to knowledge?_

_No, says the minister- there are things man was not to know_

_No, says the worker- ignorance is bliss_

_No, says the ruler- only I am entitled to knowledge._

_I rejected those answers. I chose the answer of the scientist, the engineer, the philosopher, and the intellectual. I chose yes. I chose to create a society founded on the pursuit of knowledge. I chose illumination. I chose RAPTURE!_

"Hammy." Jack snarked to himself.

Just then, the elevator arrived at its destination. The doors opened, and Jack stared into the face of a madman wielding a pipe wrench.

"An intruder? Kill him!" The man raved.

Jack was pushed back into the elevator car and cornered. At that point, he did the only thing he could. He raised his foot and kicked the man in the groin. The attacker dropped the wrench. Jack grabbed the 20-some pounds of steel and slammed it against the lunatic's head, killing him.

"_What the hell just happened, boyo?"_ Atlas asked over the radio.

"A lunatic with wrench tried to kill me, Atlas!" Jack exclaimed.

"_Did he…have anything that shouldn't be there?_" Atlas asked.

"Atlas, what does that even mean? What's going on here? Who are these people?" Jack demanded.

Atlas sighed over the radio.

"_It's not a pretty bedtime story, Jackie._" Atlas replied.

"_I need to know what happened here."_ Jack insisted.

Just then, a face appeared on the nearest TV screen. It was scowling, and it had a handlebar mustache.

_"Which one of them sent you, padre? Let me tell you something- Rapture is not a treasure waiting for plunder, and Carlos Cuello is not a giddy socialite eager to be slapped around. And with that, farewell._" The face announced.

"_RUN!_" Atlas shouted.

Jack ran through the corridor, entered a bulkhead, and closed the door behind him.

"_Now that we're rid of Carlos Cuello, I think you might want to hear just what happened here._" Atlas announced over the radio.

"What happened here?" Jack demanded.

"_About 20 years ago, Cuello arrived on this island. In case you never heard of him, he was this famous thinker and intellectual. He thought that people were being denied knowledge, so he hit the road for parts unknown. He built a city- a society based on knowledge. He called it Rapture._" Atlas began.

"Where exactly is Rapture?" Jack demanded.

"_Main city's on the seabed at 20 fathoms deep. Everything else is on the island. Island's where Cuello runs his cult, El Iluminado. They're totally devoted to advancing knowledge. About ten years ago, they discovered a way to splice genes up and get changes within the generation. They used sea creatures as the source of their splicing agents."_ Atlas continued.

_"_Sea creatures?" Jack asked.

"_Aye, sea creatures. Thing that made it possible was ADAM, a sort of retrovirus/mutagen obtained from a type of sea slug. They used whatever they could get to splice with- sharks, jellyfish, dolphins, saltwater crocodiles. Cuello had his own aquarium with things like electric eels. A lot of people spliced up. It drove us insane, ruined our bodies. I've seen some bad things in my life, Jackie…but what Cuello brought upon us was the worst of it._" Atlas replied.

"Look, I'm here for Eleanor Lamb. Just tell me where she is!" Jack retorted.

"_Eleanor Lamb? She's in the El Iluminado's lair- Hephaestus. Now, we're going to need you to be the ultimate fighting machine. Get to Rapture MedSci. You're going to need everything you can find, boyo."_ Atlas finished


	2. Chapter 2

The bulkhead door opened, and Jack waltzed out into MedSci. A buzz from the radio prompted his attention.

"_All right, boyo. If you're in MedSci, we're going to have to get you ready to take on the Splicers. To do that…you're going to have to splice yourself._" Atlas announced.

"Didn't you just say that splicing drove people insane?" Jack asked.

"_All things in moderation, Jackie. If you don't splice too much too fast, you're unlikely to end up like the Splicers."_ Atlas replied.

Just then, a moaning noise was heard.

"Atlas, what the hell was that?" Jack inquired.

"_That moaning noise? It's a Protector, or as we affectionately nicknamed them, Big Daddies."_ Atlas answered.

"Are they going to try to kill me?" Jack demanded.

"_Only if you attack first. Or get too close to their wards- the Gatherers."_ Atlas answered.

"Gatherers?" Jack inquired.

"_They're little girls who have been modified to take ADAM from the dead. We affectionately call them Little Sisters._" Atlas replied.

"How…old are they?" Jack asked.

"_Most of them get the slug implanted when they're 5 to 8. After the initial procedure comes mental conditioning, and after that- they get assigned to their Big Daddy._" Atlas answered.

Jack gulped. This was not what he signed up for. He trudged on into the dark corridors of MedSci, terrified of what might come out of the shadows. Then, a humanoid figure emerged from the shadows. The figure's left arm was a tentacle. Before Jack could react, the creature's tentacle wrapped around his neck, determined to strangle him. Just then, the moan of a Big Daddy echoed through the halls.

Jack was soon dropped as the creature ran towards the Big Daddy. Just then, he noticed something on an alcove. It was a small bottle and hypodermic syringe. The bottle read ELECTRO BOLT.

"Atlas, there's a bottle of something called 'Electro Bolt' in front of me." Jack radioed.

"_Is there a needle next to it?_" Atlas asked.

"Yes." Jack answered.

"_Would you kindly inject the contents of that bottle with the needle?_" Atlas asked.

Despite his doubts about how clean the the needle was, Jack grabbed the syringe, loaded it with the Electro Bolt, and injected it into his arm. A wave of nausea hit him, and his arms began to twitch. An electric tingling sensation worked through his body. A wave of pain also hit him. Then, it stopped. Jack looked at his hand. Veins of electric blue glowed.

"Atlas…why are my hands glowing?" Jack asked.

"_You just injected ADAM plasmids into blood. Long story short, your genetic code has been rewritten to allow you to discharge blasts of bioelectricity. It's like an electric eel._" Atlas explained.

Just then, a Splicer emerged from the shadows. Jack panicked, and a bolt of electricity hit the Splicer. Jack hit the Splicer with his wrench, and it dropped dead. Jack searched its body, and found a combat knife, some sort of money, and a few lockpicks.

"Jack Wilks, master of unlocking." Jack snarked to himself.

The radio buzzed.

"_Jackie, if you want out of MedSci, you need the key. Bad news is that it's in the hands of Cuello's main researcher/medical expert, Doctor Jonathan S. Steinman. Worse, he's not full of the milk o' human kindness. Frankly, I'm not sure he's human._" Atlas announced


	3. Chapter 3

Jack was wandering through MedSci, hunting for Doctor Steinman. Why was it that no matter where he went, help always came with strings attached? Hopefully, he'd find Eleanor Lamb, get the hell out of here, and get a huge paycheck when he got back. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack spotted a submachine gun and a shotgun. He put the SMG on his back. He hoped that there was a safe or something that he could put one of them in. He decided to contact Atlas.

"Atlas, I need to know where I can store numerous guns." Jack demanded.

"_Gun storage? I'll presume you want portable storage. Look for an attaché case or something. Cuello's research teams found a way to give them nearly infinite storage capacity._" Atlas replied.

As it turned out, there was such a case nearby. Jack opened it and put the SMG inside.

As he walked through MedSci, Jack noticed something that looked suspiciously like a tape recorder. He hit "play" and listened to a chilling monologue about the effects of the splicing. Nearby, he saw what he thought was a weapons modification device. As it turned out, he was right.

Jack looked at the options for mods. A third barrel for his shotgun, a "mass driver" device to accelerate his shots, numerous devices that allowed incendiary, electric, cryonic, acidic, toxic, explosive, and even _radioactive_ rounds, and other mods all caught his fancy. He was like a kid in a candy store.

Eventually, he chose to increase his shotgun's clip size and add a third barrel. Further ahead, he stumbled upon Steinman.

"Doctor Steinman, I presume?" Jack asked.

Steinman bolted through a doorway and pressed a button in his hand. Suddenly, the way forward was blocked by rubble.

"Atlas, Steinman just blew up a doorway. What do I do?" Jack asked.

"_You're going to need explosives. If you run into one of those Telekinesis plasmids, use it._" Atlas answered.

Jack stumbled upon a bottle labeled "Telekinesis". At this point, he was determined to find Eleanor, get her out of here, get himself out of here, and get an enormous paycheck. So he injected himself with the plasmids.

This time around, it was relatively painless. Now, his hand was twitching instead of glowing. Just then, a Splicer found him.

"EAT THIS, DEFILER!" The splicer exclaimed, lobbing a hand grenade at Jack.

Jack caught the grenade in midair, redirected it towards the rubble, and tossed it at the obstacle. Path cleared.

Roughly 10 minutes later, Jack stumbled upon Steinman's office.

"What's this- an intruder? Kill him!" Steinman exclaimed.

Jack switched over to Electro Bolt, aimed at the pool of water that Steinman was standing in, and let it fly. Jack then took some ammo and the key off Steinman's body


	4. Chapter 4

On his way out of MedSci, Jack heard a scream. He grabbed his wrench, and noticed a Splicer cornering a little girl. Just then, the Splicer dropped dead. A woman with a smoking gun stood on a nearby balcony.

"You're next if you lay a hand on her!" The woman exclaimed.

"_Tenenbaum, he's not a Splicer._" Atlas radioed.

"He will not hurt my little ones!" The woman exclaimed again. Jack caught more of her German accent.

"_That girl that Tenenbaum's so protective of is a Little Sister. Now, you have two options- you can rip that slug out of her gut, or Tenenbaum here can toss you a special plasmid called 'Exorcise'._" Atlas continued.

As if on cue, Tenenbaum tossed the plasmid. Jack injected it, and approached the Little Sister. He finally decided to save the girl.

"_The path of the righteous isn't an easy one, boyo. Tenenbaum's bound to reward you._" Atlas radioed.

Jack then moved to a device called a "Gather's Garden". He examined his available purchases- genotype alterations, plasmids, and tonics were all for sale. Just then, Atlas called.

"_If you're looking for genotype alterations, you'd better have a copy of your original genetic code._" Atlas warned.

Jack grabbed a beaker and a small brick, and then scraped himself. The blood flowed into the beaker, which he then put into the machine at the port labeled "DNA SAMPLE". The data was then compiled and broadcasted to all such machines across Rapture. Jack then purchased a plasmid called "Incinerate!". Just then, his hands developed what appeared to be severe burns.

Suddenly, a Big Daddy lumbered out of the shadows. Jack grimaced as the hulking behemoth dragged itself towards him. Jack raised his hands to his face, but a jet of flame shot from his wrists- hitting the Big Daddy right in the "face". The creature's "eyes" turned red, and it revved its drill, preparing to charge at Jack.

Jack switched to Electro Bolt, and fired it at the Big Daddy. It started spasming- paralyzed. Jack reached his shotgun and unloaded some buckshot into the behemoth's face. It fell to the floor, but proceeded to drag itself towards Jack. Another round of Electro Bolt and buckshot was used to kill it.

Jack looked at the Little Sister, crying over the corpse of her protecter. In response, he used Exorcise on her. After he was sure that the girl was gone, Jack looted the Big Daddy's corpse and used Incinerate to set a funeral pyre for the behemoth.


End file.
